Manufacture of paper cups



June 18, 1929. J. v. WECKBAUGH- 1.717.427

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER CUPS.

Original Filed Sept. 10, 1925 4 Sheets-$heet 1 June 18; 1929. J, v, WECKBA'UGH 1,717,427

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER curs Original Filed Sept. 10, 1925 .4 Sheets-Sheet 2 'ATTO'RNEY June 18 1929. v, WECKBA'UGH 1,717,427

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER curs Original Fi led Sept. 10, 1925 4 Shets-$heet 3 @TM J;

ATTORNEY June 18, 1929.

Original Filed Sept. 10, 1925 J. V. WECKBAUGH MANUFACTURE OF PAPER CUPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 f 61 w 76 77 H I! Iv 71 80 75/ 71 47 74 INVENTOR Jose v12 l fl'l ec/(bauyk H BY ATTORNEY Patented June 18, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. i

:rosnrn v. WECKBAUGH, or NEW YORK, N. Y nssienon T AMERICAN corron con- PORATION, or NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER CUPS.

. Original application filed September 10, 1925, Serial No. 55,596. Divided and this application filed September 30, 1926.

The invention relates to portable apparatus for the manufacture from a continuous strip of paper, and the dispensing thereof as required, of paper drinking cups and like articles and is concerned more especially with the material feed mechanism thereof and a supply unit of the materials employed in the manufacture of said articles and adapted to a machine of this character.' More particularly, the invention relates to the paper roll and pliable, metal binding strip unit and to the mechanism for feeding the paper, and,

strip into the machine wherein the same are constructed into a complete cup, as is set 15. forth in my co-pending application for U. S. patent, Serial No. 55,596, filed September 10, 1925, and of which the present application is a division.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete machine for manufacturing the cups, a portion of the casing thereof being broken away to disclose the interior.

Figure 2 is' a rear-view of the apparatus with the casing removed and with the paper and metal strips in position.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section thru the stock supporting frame with supplyof stock mounted therein. 1 Figure 4 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section thru the roll supporting spindle and looking toward the support therefor.

- Figure 5 is a longitudinal section thru the roll of paper and binder strip stock.

Figure 6 is an end View thereof with one half of the disk for binder stock removed.

' Figure 7 is a rear elevation of the upper part of the apparatus with paper and metal strips removed. I

Figure 8 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 8 -8, Figure 7 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure. 9 is a vertical section thru the sprocket feed and guide for metal strip, taken on the line 99, Figure 7 with the guide shoe in the open position indicated in dotted lines. I

Figure 10 is a detail elevation, partly in sect-ion, of the paper feed shaft and the rolls thereon, p

Figure 11. is a transverse vertical section.

Serial No. 138,629.

taken on the line 1111, Figure 10, looking in the direction of the arrows. Referring to the drawings, the cup which 1s to be substantially of the more or less c0nical shape indicated in my said prior application, is to be manufactured from a supply of suitable paper material of the desired quality and size which is arranged to be taken from a roll 40 affording a suflicient quantity of such paper to make a very considerable two elements are wound in opposite dime tions, and provision is made for frictionbetween the two, so that as they are simultaneously unwound, each will act as a brake to the other to prevent either roll from overrunning.

. As shown in the drawing, the paper 40 is rolled about acylindricaldrum 41' which is somewhat shorter than the paper is wide.

The metal strip 42 is wound on a hub 43 formed by strikingout projections 44 from a flat disk of metal. Before the metal strip 42 is. wound about these projections, a paper guide disk 45 is slipped over the hub. After the paper roll 40 and the metal strip 42 have thus been separately wound, a tube-46 having a flange 47 at one end is passed thru central perforations in the drum 41 and then thru a central opening in a paper friction disk 48; The hub 43 is then threaded over the tube 46 with the exposed face of the metal 42 against friction disk 48 and with the metal strip 42 running in the opposite direction to that of the paper roll 40. Flanges 49 carried by the tube 46 are then struck over andhammered down until both the paper roll 40 and the metal strip 42 are pressed against opposite faces'of the friction disk 48. This assembly makes a compact self-'tensioning unit whichjmay'convenientlybe supplied to users of the machine.

To insert this unit into the machine, a spindle 50 is passed thru tube 46 and the ends of the spindle are rested on arms 51 (which likewise serve as guides for the paper and metal). The unit is then pushed into the machine until the ends of spindle 50 are engaged by spring sockets 52 of brackets 53 which in turn are secured to the frame walls Secured to the back of the frame is a transversely extending guide plate 55 which is located above the supply roll and over which the paper a0 is designed to be drawn, opposite lateral portions of the plate being turned over for the purpose of providing guides 57 confining the side edges of the paper strip to prevent lateral displacement thereofin its movement over the guide plate as well as to retain the strip as a whole thereto. A further means such as a coil spring 58, tapering tcwards its opposite ends from the middlepor-v tion, may be arranged to extend transversely over the advancing strip of paper intermediate the upper and lower ends ofsaid guide plate and to press the paper lightly against said guide plate, the spring ends being conveniently attached to the lateral guides 57 of said plate. The said spring 58 will thus exert its maximum pressure over the middle portion of the paper and assist in insuring a uniform feed of the same to the 'cup forming mechanism hereinafter described.

Simultaneously with the feeding of the paper 40 the metal binding strip 42 is to be similarly advanced to the cup forming mechanism; and to this end it is guided upwardly from the spool (from which it is unwound in a direction reverse to that in which the paper is unwound) over a plate 60 to the mouth of a partly closed guide channel 61 constricted substantially to the width of the strip'and passing behind the guide plate 55 for the paper strip. I This guide channel terminates substantially tangentially to a feed sprocket 62 which isfrictionally held on a feed shaft 63 and over the teeth of which the perforated metal strip is designed to fit, being advanced to the cup forming mechanism by said sprocket. The sprocket 62 has a snug frictional fit on its shaft 63, and it becomes possible, therefore, to turn same in a direction reverse to its normal forward-feed rotational movement, as in replenishing the supply of stock, simply by exerting a suflicient downward pull upon the said metal strip. v

To insure the retention of said strip to its sprocket at all times during the operation. of the apparatus, a spring pressed guide shoe 65 is pivotally secured to a side of the frame 5 1 to enable its withdrawal therefrom (as indicated by the position shown in dotted lines, Figure 9) as when inserting a new supply of the strip. This shoe has a bifurcated portion 66 curved to conform to the periphery of the sprocket and its tines are adapted to straddle the teeth. thereof and to press the metal strip upon the peripheries of the adjacent full portions 67. Beyond the ends of the tines, a further shoe 68 guides the stripto the cup forming mechanism.

The feed shaft 63, in addition to supporting the feed sprocket 62 for advancing the metal strip, has secured thereto a pair of feed rollers 70 separated from each other thereon to correspond to the width of the paper strip, said rollers being adapted to cooperate with a similar pair of rollers 71 which are mounted directly above the former and are secured on a shaft 72 disposed parallel to'the said feed shaft. The strip 40 of paper is designed to pass between the sets of rollers and to be advanced thereby into the cup forming mechanism-an arcuate guide member 76 being provided to direct the paper to these rollers.

The shaft 72, moreover, isso mounted as to admit of its being displaced slightly vertically (say 1/16") to cause the rollers 71 to move away from their coacting rollers 70,

thereby allowing ample space to pass thru the paper in initially threading the same into the apparatus. To raise such shaft 72 for this purpose, the same is mounted at its ends in bearings 56 which move in slotted brackets 7 1 and is further carried by a strap 7 5 whose upper ends pass thru slots 76 of a transversely disposed and fixed bar 77. Between the projecting ends, moreover, is, pivotally mounted a block 7 8 which may be oscillated slightly thru a handle member 79 'to cam against the upper surface of the bar and raise thereby the projecting ends of the strap further thru said slots. Normally, however, the block will rest squarely against the upper surface of the bar and the strap will drop accordingly, being assisted to its lowermost position bya fiat spring 80 interposed between the under-surface of the bar 77 and the shaft 72. The opposite ends of this spring bear upon said shaft near its opposite ends, while the intermediate portion of the spring is in contact with the underface'of the said bar. Accordingly, there is thereby provided a substantially balanced pressure upon the cooperating pairs of rollers to secure proper feed of the paper.

Rotational movement is to be imparted to the said shafts 63 and 72 in timed relation to the other operations to be performed on the material in forming acup' therefrom, as fully set forth in the parent application. To this end, gear wheels and 86 respectively on the V shafts 63 and 72, mesh together and are driven in turn thru intermediate mechanism from a driving pinion 87 on the driving shaft 88 which shaft, for example, may be rotated by means of a crank handle 89 at its outer end and outside of a casing 90 which encloses the entire apparatus, as shown more particularly in Figure 1 of the drawings.

While the devices described and claimed in this application are primarily intended for use in connection with the type of mechanism disclosed in the said parent application, it is apparent that they may also be used in other forms of devices.

I claim:

1. In combination, a roll of paper wound in one direction, a coil of pliable metal binding strip wound in the reverse direction, and means for holding said roll and said coil in frictional relationship, so that when both are unwound each will act to tension the other.

2. A combination as specified in claim '1, further characterized by the fact that the frictional relationship is betwen one end of the roll of paper and a flat face of the coil of metal, and a disk is interposed between the two.

3. A material supply unit for use in a paper cup making machine, comprising: a roll of paper and a pliable metal binding strip mounted on a common support for unrolling therefrom, one being wound thereon in a direction reverse from the other.

4. A self-tensioning supply roll for paper cup making machines, comprising: a roll of paper and a roll of pliable metal, both carried on a common central member but wound in opposite directions in such a way that as both are unwound simultaneously, each will tend to impede the rotation of the other.

5. A material supply unit for use in a paper cup making machine, comprisng a hub carrying a roll of paper, a spool with two flexible end disks carried at one end of the hub adj acent the roll of paper, the inner of said end disks having frictional contact with the said roll and a coil of pliable metal strip wound thereon between said disks in a direction re verse from that of the roll of paper.

6. A material supply unit for use in a paper cup making machine, comprising a hub carrying a roll of paper, a spool with two flexible end disks carried at one end of the hub adj acent the roll of paper, and a'coil of pliable metal stripwound thereon between said disks,

the strip being wound on the spool in a direction reverse to the paper.

7. In a machine for making paper cups and of the character set forth: a frame, brackets attached thereto and provided with spring sockets for receiving a spindle, a hollow cylinder rotatable on said spindle and having a roll of paper wound thereon, a spool and two flexible disks secured adj acently to one end of the cylinder, a coil of pliable metal strip held thereon between said disks, the strip being wound in'a direction reverse from that of the paper, a supporting hub for said cylinder and spool, and arms extending radially outward from said brackets about the ends of said hub.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOSEPH V. WEGKBAUGH. 

